I'm not sure if this post is in the correct section but here it goes.
Fixing your parking B-R-A-K-E is quite simple.

To access your parking B-R-A-K-E start by removing the Shift ****, and pulling the plastic that line the sides of center console. They may be a little hard to pull off, and don't pull too hard or you'll pull off the cigarette lighter connections. You will have to detach the connections to the cigarette lighter which has a few pins attached. Once all of this is off it looks like this.

There should be screws where those purple circles are unscrew them.
Now look into your center console glove box. Under that rug is a couple of bolts. Unscrew those too now your whole center should feel pretty loose. All that is left is to unplug the wires connecting the Ipod/Aux cords in the center glove box. You'll have to reach down there and unplug those. You get this:

Now if you look at the red circle that is the bolt for the cable to tighten the B-R-A-K-E. As you can see mine is very short in this picture and the B-R-A-K-E doesn't engage until very high. So you have to remove the safety bolt on top then tighten the bolt underneath which will bring the cable up tighter.


Now you can see how much more of it is showing. You don't want it too tight other wise your wheels wont move when the B-R-A-K-E is disengaged. So you might wanna jack up a rear tire and make sure that the tire moves with ease while the parking B-R-A-K-E is off. You also might want to drive and make sure you cant hear the beak while coasting and fiddle with it until it is just the right tension. Hopefully then helps those of you who wish to fix that loose hand B-R-A-K-E! A good parking B-R-A-K-E should engage between four and six clicks.

Thanks for reading!

 

thank you for posting that, i was wondering how to tighten my ebrake up.

 

nice. i thought there was another write up where you have to tighten it in the rear hubs

 

thank you for posting this ihave been wondering on how to do this for a while now. great DIY. Mod should put this in the tc tech. thanks!

 

I wouldn't adjust the brake there, our brakes, much like every other car have an adjustment wheel built into the drum in the back that you should use.

 

Adjusting in the drum brake is the proper way. Doing as shown above will cause you to eventually lose tension in the cable as the cable will stretch out and then you will not be able to tighten it anymore. Might as well do it correctly the first time.

 

Yes i have heard that, but i also have heard from most people that this worked fine for them so i just decided to give it a shot. I guess whatever you prefer to do. It also would work for people just wanting to give their hand B-R-A-K-E a little more grip.

 

First: The DIY is nice. It is accurate and will "work."

However... the proper way would be to adjust at the actual brakes first. By only doing the adjustment at the handle you are basically ignoring a potential problem with your brakes - in that maybe your shoes need to be replaced? Maybe they're getting low?

Adjusting at the brake itself will allow you to see that and make the proper adjustment. Ya, adjusting at the handle is probably "easier" ... but this is a similar thing to the "my brake light comes on when I accelerate" issue. It comes on because the fluid is low and sloshing around in the reservoir. Sure, you could just add brake fluid - but the real issue is that your pads are low, so more fluid is in the lines than normal, so less in the reservoir causing it to slosh around more. Temp fix: Add brake fluid. Real fix: Check/replace pads.

Make sense?

 

^ agreed.

 

thats what i thought.

 

thread title, posts, fixed.

don't break your brakes. adjust it from the drum first.

 

^ I may have OCD but that ish bugs me too. Especially their, there, and they're. To, too, two, ahh the list goes on lol.